Escape from Monster

A swan sits at the center of a perfectly circular lake. At an edge of the lake stands a ravenous monster waiting to devour the swan. The monster can not enter the water, but it will run around the circumference of the lake to try to catch the swan as soon as it reaches the shore. The monster moves at 4 times the speed of the swan, and it will always move in the direction along the shore that brings it closer to the swan the quickest. Both the swan and the the monster can change directions in an instant.
The swan knows that if it can reach the lake's shore without the monster right on top of it, it can instantly escape into the surrounding forest.

How can the swan successfully escape?




Similar Riddles

What number comes next in the series?

5 15 5 18 5 24 14 20 _

Asked by Neha on 15 Jun 2023


One absent-minded ancient philosopher forgot to wind up his only clock in the house. He had no radio, TV, telephone, internet, or any other means for telling time. So he travelled on foot to his friend's place a few miles down the straight desert road. He stayed at his friend's house for the night and when he came back home, he knew how to set his clock. How did he know?

Asked by Neha on 29 Feb 2024

Two friends were betting. One said to the other, "The coin will be flipped twenty times and each time the coin lands on the head, I will give you $2 and each time it lands on the tale, you will give me $3." After flipping the coin twenty times not a single penny was exchanged among them.

How many times did the coin land on heads?

Asked by Neha on 28 Jan 2025


Why do Chinese men eat more rice than Japanese men do ?

Asked by Neha on 02 Sep 2021

What has hands, but can’t clap?

Asked by Neha on 21 Feb 2022

Find the next number in the following series:
6, 14, 26, 98, __?

Asked by Neha on 16 Feb 2026


Can you find the company name in the pictogram below?

Find The Company

Asked by Neha on 09 Dec 2024

A man and his wife were doing missionary work near the city of Nairobi in the country of Kenya in eastern Africa. Their housing had not yet been completed, so the man, the woman, and their six year old daughter were spending a few nights in the jungle in three small pup tents. During their third night there, the woman was awakened by the call of a hyena passing by, so she got out of her tent to see if her young daughter had been frightened by the noise. As she peered into her daughter's tent she was surprised to see the dark figures of lion, a panther, and a cheetah which were curled up next to her daughter. Seeing her daughter was asleep and unharmed, the woman slowly and quietly withdrew from the tent, and simply returned to her own tent and went back to bed. How could this child's mother leave her daughter in such a dangerous situation, and simply ignore what she had just witnessed without intervening in some way? How can such emotional coldness ever be explained; or is there something here we are missing?

Asked by Neha on 04 Apr 2022

A new clothing store has a unique method of pricing items. A vest costs $20, a tie costs $15, a blouse costs $30, and underwear costs $45. How much would pants cost?

Asked by Neha on 22 Oct 2025


Can you count the number of quadrilaterals in the picture below?

Count the Quadrilaterals

Asked by Neha on 14 Mar 2023

Hot Articles

Amazing Facts

Out of the Box

The phrase “thinking outside the box” was popularised from the solution to a topographical puzzle involving 9 dots in a box shape.